On Wednesday, workers at the World Vision warehouse in Grand Prairie filled a truck with disaster relief supplies, bound for Lake Charles, Louisiana, which was impacted by Hurricane Laura.
"If you have a community that's already vulnerable and it goes through a disaster, you just tipped the scales in the wrong direction," World Vision Site Manager Gil Young said.
When Hurricane Laura swept across parts of Louisiana and Texas on August 27, it left an estimated $20-billion damage in its wake.
Young said this was the soonest World Vision could safely get relief supplies to those who need it.
"The storm went through and these roads are impassable," Young said. "We don't like to put people in harm's way."
Young said he knows what it's like to go through a natural disaster.
"I grew up in hurricane territory. I've gone through a couple of hurricanes myself. I'm from Belize," Young said. "So I get taken back because people don't understand just how frightening it is."
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
World Vision will bring generators, some food, water, clean-up supplies, and hygiene supplies to the Lake Charles area. Young said the faith-based organization relies on donations to buy enough to have four truckloads of relief supplies always at the ready for a disaster anywhere in the United States.
"They should see love," Young said of the people who will get the disaster relief supplies. "They should feel cared for, loved, appreciated, and they should get a sense of hope that it's going to be all right."
